Love, it’s the hardest command that masquerades as something that should come naturally. Why is loving people so hard?
The problem with love is not people; it’s sin.
Read that last sentence again and let it sink in. Loving is hard because of sin. I am not actually battling people; I am battling either their sin or my sin. When I am frustrated to tears with my husband or children, it’s really about sin not about who they are. Sin makes it hard to love, not the people. Sin wrecks love! It’s what wrecked love in the beginning. What did God send to fix it? He sent Love. The tool that the all powerful God used to fix sin: Love.
Love is the tool Jesus used to redeem us. It's what held Him to that cross. That is how He conquered sin, and it’s how we conquer sin too.
Love is what conquers sin, because Jesus is love!
When I am not enough, He is.
God is Love. Love is Jesus. They are synonymous. You cannot love without Jesus. Jesus himself is Love. Saying that Love is not irritable or resentful, doesn’t make me not irritable or resentful. Memorizing the verses doesn’t make me patient and kind. There is no power in the words, they don’t change me; He changes me. The only way I can love is Jesus. It’s so simple that it’s amazing to me how much I miss it. It’s the gospel. Christ in me.
I can’t rely on my own feelings for love. Feelings are far too fickle and fragile things to depend on for power or motivation, yet that’s what I do all the time.
My love isn’t enough. It will fail, but His love is always enough. I am not telling you that Love is a verb and we need a plan and we need to try harder. Most of the time, I can’t try harder!
I'm telling you I need Jesus. I’ve hit the end of me. Love is not something I can conjure up, it’s a person’s identity that I need to put on. Faith in God’s love for us, relying on God’s love for us, and being empowered by abiding in God’s love for us is the only hope we have of loving people.
Father, help me see that I have hit the end of myself and that all my striving needs to cease. You know the depravity in me, and you also know the power living in me. Help me to see it too, and to access it as you intended so that I can live a life of love that my love will prove your love to those watching (John 13:35). God, we need a love that we are lacking, you are It. We pray simply for more of you.
This is an excerpt from my book, A Love That Conquers, you can follow the link below to purchase it on Amazon.
